[No. 19233.

February 5, 1923]

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, plaintiff and appellee, vs. FORTUNATO CAÑETE, defendant and
appellant.

STREET, J.:

Facts:

The accused was angered when the deceased refused the wager that he offered while the latter was
playing hantak and he assaulted the latter with a knife. In the course of the fight which ensued inflicted
a serious cut on his thigh. Upon this the deceased turned to flee and was pursued by the accused. After
going a short distance the deceased fell to the ground face downwards; and before he could recover his
equipoise and resume his flight, the accused ran up and delivered a fatal thrust with his knife in the back
of the deceased.

Issue:

WON treachery attended the crime.

Ruling:

No. When an altercation which ends in a homicide is begun without alevosía on the part of the slayer,
and the criminal design is prosecuted to its consummation without any break in the continuity of the
aggression and without the intervention of any factor which materially changes the conditions of the
aggression, the offense constitutes homicide, although the final fatal blow may be delivered under
conditions exhibiting some of the features of alevosía.